Can a mechanical engineering graduate work in the aircraft industry?
– question from name withheld Aerospace engineering is essentially a specialization of mechanical engineering. In particular, aerodynamics and propulsion are a specialization of the fluid dynamics option available in many mechanical engineering programs. As a result, mechanical engineers usually have little trouble transitioning to course work in the aerospace field. It is therefore quite common for someone with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering to pursue an advanced degree in aerospace. Likewise, mechanical engineers are quite common in the aircraft industry. While aeronautical engineers tend to be experts in designing the overall layout of an aircraft, it is mechanical engineers who most often do the detailed design work to put those concepts into practice. For example, an aerospace engineer may design a shape for a wing to achieve aerodynamic efficiency, but a mechanical engineer would determine where the various structural components need to be in order to build that win
